Fig. 4.

Effects of tension on microtubule tip dynamics and attachment stability. a End-on attachments allow kinetochores and tension to directly regulate microtubule tip dynamics. b Tension stabilizes reconstituted kinetochore-microtubule interactions. Left: Tension increases rescue rate and decreases catastrophe rates, resulting in a state where microtubules spend more time in the assembly phase. Right: There is also a tendency for the detachment rate from shortening microtubules to decrease in the presence of higher tension whereas that from growing microtubules increases. Changes in these four parameters result in a net increase in total attachment time as tension is increased within a certain force range (0.5 – 5 pN) (Akiyoshi et al. 2010).